The National Primate Research Centers (NPRCs)¹ Consortium is a collaboration among  the California (CNPRC), Oregon (ONPRC), Southwest (SNPRC), Tulane (TNPRC), Washington (WaNPRC), Wisconsin (WNPRC), and Emory (ENPRC) National Primate Research Centers. Funded by the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Consortium’s mission is to improve global health through biomedical research with NHPs.

Biomedical research with nonhuman primates (NHPs) has resulted in several notable medical breakthroughs.^1–5 NHP research has been essential to our understanding of how the human body responds to infectious and noninfectious diseases and organ transplantation, and to finding therapies for certain cancers and AIDS. NHP biomedical research is made more translatable to human disease using NHP-related laboratory reagents for the characterization and modulation of disease-causing processes.

Since the 1970s, the field of medicine has relied on the imaging technique of X-ray computed tomography (CT) to visualize soft tissues of the body, bone structures, and to assist in the diagnosis of a myriad of diseases.^1,2 A CT scanner creates a beam of X-rays from an X-ray source aimed at a patient and recognized by rows of detectors, producing multiple images (“slices”) that are processed by the machine’s computer, generating cross-sectional images.³ Beyond diagnostic purposes, this technology is used to select suitable treatment options for patients.

The era of personalized medicine is being realized through the testing of therapies on animal avatars.

ORIP grant programs enable veterinarians to participate in biomedical research.

Mutant mouse strains enable scientists to study pathogens as they interact with the human immune system.